In a case of spectacularly bad timing, the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to increase hunger among our state’s most vulnerable residents on the very same day that new reports from the Census Bureau revealed that poverty is on the rise in North Carolina. Despite the fact that one-in-five North Carolinians live in poverty, the House is taking up a hugely controversial package that wipes out critical food assistance for more than a million North Carolina families.

This extreme and harsh measure cuts a staggering $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—formerly known as food stamps, a program which has lifted 4 million out of poverty last year alone and is considered one of the nation’s most effective anti-poverty tools. The cuts are twice the amount originally proposed by the House earlier this year and ten times more than those adopted by a strong bipartisan majority in the U.S. Senate.

If the legislation becomes law, it will take away food assistance for as many as four million poor Americans, including 1.7 million North Carolinians. Independent budget analysts have confirmed the proposal is so extreme it would take away food assistance for children, seniors and veterans.